The Opiod Crisis: Where It Came From And How To Deal With It.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/3/16079772/opioid-epidemic-drug-overdoses

good article which explains things well. in particular I find the possibilities in Harm Reduction strategies to be worth considering.

Even if all of this is fixed, however, the reality is some people will still misuse and get addicted to drugs. That’s one reason experts have also called for harm reduction efforts: Prescription heroin, which has been tried successfully in Canada and Europe, could let people access a clean supply of the drug. Supervised injection facilities could provide a space for drug users to inject illicit substances, with medical staff ready in case something goes wrong. Needle exchange programs could let people trade in used syringes for new ones, reducing the risk that a needle will carry HIV, hepatitis C, or some other disease. The opioid overdose antidote naloxone could be made more accessible across the country.

Good article, and it's unfortunate that TPTB are bent on the a strategy that is opposite to that suggested.

We have utterly lost the "War on Drugs". Trillions of dollars wasted, hundreds of thousands of lives lost and constitutional rights trampled.

Illicit drugs need to be treated as a public health issue, not a law enforcement matter.

Do you think that perhaps that is well known, and that therefore the aim of the war on drugs is not as we are told to reduce drug use?

Remember the American creed: Every man for himself. There will always be a significant chunk of the electorate that just doesn't care about anyone but themselves and their loved ones.

Of course @Dayton3 disagrees.

I agree the "War on Drugs" has been poorly "fought'.

But I think it should be treated as both a law enforcement matter and a public health issue.

If the article doesn't smear a big fist full sized glob of blame on Perdue Pharma, I ain't reading it.

The only thing to blame here is a lack of personal responsibility, said your Trumper uncle on his Facebook page.

Actually IIRC it does call out Perdue Pharmaceuticals by name.

The opioid epidemic wouldn’t be as bad if we didn’t prescribe insanely powerful pain killers to people. Some of them are stronger and more addictive than heroin and it’s all 100% legal. But their body gets used to it and eventually needs it to function. That’s why they go to illegal drugs later, they don’t have a choice, going cold turkey can kill you. Our whole drug policy and system is fucked on every level.

And street opiates are helluva lot cheaper than the insanely marked up prescription shit.

It's an insane situation.

Dayton celebrates a Vox article. What a day!

What is the significance of that? I google searched the subject and read the most interesting articles

None at all. It's a great website. And you should read it daily.

It’s an awful situation and I can’t wrap my head around how we begin to fix it. I’ve read that medical marijuana can replace certain painkillers, with the benefit that you can’t overdose or get addicted. But I doubt it would get widespread enough to fully replace it once it’s legal across the country.

Being a military veteran (an occupation where a lot of folks are on painkillers either from training injuries or combat) there has been a push for using weed for those medically retired to ease the pain in lieu of opioids. I totally support that however there are some medical studies that claim weed is not effective in easing chronic pain. So what do we believe?

The Republicans will fight pot legalization tooth and nail, even for medical use.

Marijuana is likely going to be a big part of solving the opiod crisis. I mean, the beauty of marijuana is that you can grow the plant for next to nothing with very basic horticultural knowledge. That at least avoids the problem of going to drug dealers or paying ridiculous co-pays on prescription meds.

Well, the solution is simple, and already in effect--get their base addicted to opiods so they die off and Republicans stop getting elected.

Step 1 is to Nationalize every single pharmaceutical company involved in pushing these drugs.

Drug distributors poured 20.8 million pain pills into a West Virginia town of 3,000 people over a 10-year period, according to information released Tuesday as part of a congressional probe into the opioid crisis.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...nds-drug-distributors-shipped-20-million-pain

They fucking knew. They fucking knew and they didn't care. Fuck them. Take their assets and throw their executives in prison.

This would have a secondary benefit in that all the other drugs they sold could be provided to the public at cost.

Then yes, Step 2 is the solution from the OP.

weird because many conservative veterans (myself included) and Republicans think weed should be legalized and treated like booze. While many of us cannot partake because our jobs won't allow it, we still support legalization and taxation. Go figure!

I'm thinking he might have meant "Republicans in Power," like this jug-eared rube:

You do build up a tolerance, so I could see that as an issue. It drops back down when you stop daily use, but that might not be possible for some people who are in chronic pain. I’m not sure how they could deal with that unless they take stronger strains or just use it more. There’s not any issue with that, but if you have shit to do, you won’t be doing that. It’s why I only smoke at night, the worse thing I can do is miss something I wanted to watch because I fell down a YouTube hole.

More research needs to be done and more work needs to be put into developing strains since they can get different results. Like that one developed for kids having seizures constantly. It doesn’t get them high, but it keeps them having seizures. That’s already legal in a lot of red states because the parents fought for it.

I grew some by accident when I threw some seeds out the window. It really is a weed, a wonderful one, but a weed nonetheless.

On the federal level they will. But I’m in Georgia and our state government is looking into it, I think they want all that tax revenue from legal sales. It’s illegal and everyone smokes here. White people, Hispanic people, black people, liberals and conservatives. Half of my dealers were your standard redneck good ol boys, great guys too.

Saves money from having to arrest people for possession of it too.

But I loved him so much in The ‘burbs.

I don't know about all of them, but hydrocodone and oxycodone actually have very similar cash pay (no insurance) and street values. At least where I'm from.

Yeah I can't see a day when that guy in Garamet's picture will ever want it legalized (but I bet he still slams booze with the best of em'!). But most conservatives in my age & peer group support legalizing weed.

There are TONS of low THC high CBD strains out there that don't get you high. My sister uses one of the oils because there was an article showing it improved the efficiency of one of her cancer meds.

It really is crazy that some people will sign off on any highly addictive shit medical doctors dispense, but freak out over medical marijuana. Is it the stigma?
The ignorance? Seriously I don't get it.